


A Painful Reunion

by Learlorde



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Blood and Injury, F/M, Family Feels, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Injury Recovery, Major Character Injury, Pain, Suspense, Team Feels
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-30
Updated: 2018-05-22
Packaged: 2019-04-30 08:53:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14493348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Learlorde/pseuds/Learlorde
Summary: Following the events of Infinity War... Amidst the mourning of their losses, a critically wounded Tony and Nebula escape Titan and reunite with the Avengers left on Earth. During these efforts, the Avengers brace themselves as Tony fights for his life after his severe encounter with Thanos...it won't be an easy thing to overcome.





	1. Amidst Death

**MAJOR SPOILER WARNING** read at your own risk if you haven't seen Infinity War yet.

**Author's Notes:** First, I want to say I rarely call a movie a masterpiece, but Infinity War took my breath away. I applaud Marvel and the Russo brothers for their patience and courage, and the cast and crew for spending a decade on this beloved franchise. I had no doubts this film would be magnificent and it went above all my expectations. You will leave the theater in awe, yet also completely heartbroken.

I'm so excited for next year, to see Stark reunite with the Avengers on Earth, which is what this Fanfiction is for. This will be a short, 3 chapter story. I'm not saying this is how it'll play out, but this story is just something to hold onto. In which, I'll mention, I hope Stark doesn't just get up and walk away from what happened, nobody gets up from an enormous sword through the abdomen and is okay. So if Marvel ignores that, imma be real pissed just because of logistics/realism and I was also horrified when he got stabbed, I thought he was gonna die... left the theater with a shattered heart.

Please, enjoy. This takes place moments after the events of Infinity War.

* * *

**A Painful Reunion**

1 of ?

Amidst Death

* * *

**TITAN**

Dust blew across the desolate corpse of Titan, the wasteland moaning in agony under the setting sun. Tony sat there, holding his hands over his face as tears settled in his eyes. Never before had he felt demolished of hope and so full of guilt and grief. Of course, he could think about being stuck in that cave with Yinsen, but not even that could compare to this. They almost had the gauntlet and they failed, they lost and now he was alone, trapped on this planet far from home. Why couldn't it have been him instead of Peter, Tony should have made sure he made it back to Earth. In fact, he should be dead.

Reaching down to his abdomen, he held the huge stab wound left by the sword. It was temporarily closed from the binding agent he used. Tony took a few deep, harrowing breaths as the pain still remained. The binding agent helped to numb it slightly, but it wasn't enough. It was a miracle he was still alive, but it  _was_  temporary and it wouldn't last long. Tony needed to get home. He needed to see if Pepper... what if she was dead. What if Bruce... or even... Steve. Tony felt his chest tightening at the horrific thought that they could all be dead, just as Peter (Parker), Strange, Quill and his people turned to ash. His breaths grew labored in panic. How was he going to get home?

In efforts, Tony tried getting to his feet, but stumbled with a great wince and fell to his knee. "You might not want to do that, you took a hard hit," said the female voice. Tony looked over his shoulder at the blue woman. He had seen too much too fast, with hardly the time to absorb the idea that he was in space, on another planet, with people from other worlds, but differences were quickly thrown aside in the common motivation to kill Thanos. This woman seemed to be made of mechanical parts, and despite her assassin stature, she was sitting as he was, with a mournful look on her face.

" _You_ , what's your name?" Tony asked forcefully as he tried to get back up, but failed. Instead, he shifted on his knee to sit back down. He felt pain, exhaustion, he lost blood, and he was emotionally and mentally defeated and desperate.

"Nebula," she responded quietly.

For a few moments they both sat there in silence, listening to the thunder in the distance. "Did you know them? Quill and..." he continued.

"They weren't friends, but my sister was with them. Gamora," Nebula swallowed, looking down at her hands before gazing out at the horizon. "Thanos took both her and my home worlds and took us to be his daughters," she glanced at Tony who sat there sympathetically. "He traded her life for the soul stone. And she did that so he'd stop torturing me." A single tear nearly ran down her cheek as guilt captured in her eyes.

"That wizard, Strange, he should have let me die. He traded the time stone for my life, and now everyone is dead," Tony said, exchanging a gentle understanding look with Nebula. Breaking the moment, Tony glanced at the ground. He felt so lost, he didn't know what to say or do...it was all over. He could still taste the blood in his mouth and immediately was thirsty. "Do you know how to get off this planet?" He hoped Nebula would, because he had no idea how to get home.

She glanced at the damaged pod she crashed into Thanos with. It was broken beyond repair, which made her look over her shoulder at the Milano, which remained in the distance. "Quill's ship," Nebula said, gesturing with her head to the slick orange and blue space ship.

Grimacing, Tony gradually inched closer to Nebula. "Do you know Earth?" He pressed, panting, but all he received from her was a confused look. "Okay... what about Midgard? Where Quill was from originally?"

"You mean Terra? Midgard is what Asgardians call it," she answered.

"It's called Earth," he returned.

"We call it Terra," Nebula replied, slightly bitter.

Tony looked at her, normally he'd throw some sarcastic banter, but it was gone. Sadness crept to his face as he complied with a heavy heart, "That beautiful blue world is called Earth... Can you help me get home?"

"Why should I care, I don't even know you," Nebula said roughly.

"Why shouldn't you?" Tony countered, agitated yet restraining to be calm. "Where're you going to go? We're both tra- please, I have people I need to get back to. If you have nowhere to go, you can come with me. Please, I need your help..." Achingly, he pulled up the blood stained zip-hood, to show the mortal wound. The incision was still bloody, although held together by the binding agent from the suit. "That's temporary, but it won't last. Please," he said, almost with a mixture of desperation and fear, "Don't leave me here. This isn't just about one person or one race anymore, this is about all of us now."

Nebula shifted her eyes from the wound to Tony's eyes as he pulled his clothes back over the wound. "Fine. I've never been to Earth, but I know where it's located," she reciprocated.

Inhaling and exhaling a few heavy breaths, Tony rested on a piece of debris, feeling a sliver of hope and relief. "I'm Tony, by the way," he moaned in pain, looking at her with acknowledgement.

"Stay here, I'll bring the ship closer," Nebula said with a depressed demeanor, but she got up and headed towards the ship.

Tony did as told, leaning back and breathing shallow breaths. Gazing up at the darkening sky, Tony winced, remembering Peter grabbing onto him. Tony told him it was okay, but that was a lie... That kid, why did it have to be the kid. If they'd just done one thing different, they could have beat Thanos. The more he thought about it, the more he felt a lump growing in his throat. He felt sick to his stomach and found himself dazing as if he was dead inside, until his eyelids grew heavy. He tilted his head towards the direction he was stabbed and saw the sword still laying there where he pulled it out. One thought came to his head... Pepper. He wanted her  _so_  badly right now. "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..." he whispered, hearing Pepper's voice echoing in his head when she learned he was on the ship. That crippled his heart, realizing that he may not make it home...and she knew that.

The dust around him started to scatter as Nebula landed the ship about thirty feet away. He lifted his head seeing the impressive spacecraft, quite glad that she didn't leave him stranded. With painful groans, Tony used the debris to pull himself to his feet as the ramp to the ship opened. As he staggered towards the ship, Tony stopped over the bloodied sword and stared at it soullessly, thinking to when Thanos impaled him with it. Hesitantly, he reached down and dragged it behind him to the ship where he angrily dropped it on the floor. Weakly lowering onto a seat, Tony sighed in emotional and physical agony. He struggled to stay awake, but he needed to, so he kept thought on Pepper as Nebula led their escape from Titan.

* * *

**to be continued...**

Thank you for reading! I know it's been awhile since I've written, I've been enrolling in film school and writing a graphic novel, but I made an exception to write this one story. If you liked it, please follow and feel free to leave a review.

-Learlorde


	2. Endless Somber

**MAJOR SPOILER WARNING** read at your own risk if you haven't seen Infinity War yet.

**Author's Notes** : So, I became really excited to write this next chapter and worked quite hard on it. I realize that this short story may run more than 3 chapters, probably 4 or 5 now, because my plan is to keep each chapter between 1k-2k words at most because I don't have much time in my day to write this. I ended up not getting everything I wanted to in this chapter due to other directions it took with the characters, so you guys will be getting a longer story :D

Anyway, as mentioned, this story picks up right after the events of Infinity War. Not saying they will reunite like this, but this just for entertainment.

Please, enjoy, and be warned this chapter still contains spoilers from Infinity War.

* * *

**A Painful Reunion**

2 of ?

Endless Somber

* * *

**WAKANDA**

The Earth was tainted quiet, silently weeping in accord to the tragedy that struck. Any speck of hope had been sucked into a realm unreachable to the haunted souls that survived. The Avengers sat there in a large lounging quarter overlooking the beautiful, yet suffering land of Wakanda which now laid under spilled blood. Unbearable anguish flooded the halls as the Wakandans took care of their wounded and dead, the ones who hadn't crippled to ash. Shuri was kind enough to send healers to take care of any injuries the Avengers had received during the battle, but she soon needed to rest and grieve with Okoye over their dead King and her mother.

Steve, Natasha, Bruce, Rhodey, and Thor, in their moments of despair didn't speak any words. They sat there together, feeling nothing but death in their grasp. It didn't matter how strong they were or how strong they pretended to be, tears welded in their eyes. A hole rested in their hearts, and it was something far greater than they'd ever felt. Not even the worst of the past could level the catastrophe and misery that had disintegrated all happiness, laughter, and light. Never had they lost before, and it was a living hell. Sam, Bucky, Wanda, and Vision were gone... and the only thing they had was Vision's cold and colorless corpse laying under a sheet. When it was over, they'd spent a long time trying to call everyone they knew, in a frenzy to see what more people they lost. But the phones were quiet now, and there was nothing more to do... it was over.

Rocket sat far in the distance, by the windows alone. He'd been sitting there for at least as long as they had, maybe even longer. Gazing at his reflection in the glass as the sun disappeared, Rocket tried remembering the last time he felt so much sorrow and alienation. Perhaps being experimented on, but... not knowing whether his friends were alive or no, that cut deep.

Drawing attention to Rocket, Thor looked over his shoulder at the raccoon's small silhouette. Reticently, Thor contemplated for a moment before getting to his feet. His movement made his friends' heads lift and they watched him as he approached Rocket. "May I sit?" Thor asked gently. Rocket didn't respond, but Thor settled down beside the small friend anyway. "I'm sorry about your tree friend, Groot," he comforted wholeheartedly.

"We lost Groot once before," Rocket started weakly, "He saved me and my friends during a confrontation with Ronin, in attempt to take the power stone away from him... I never thought I'd lose him again." He sighed. Empathetic, Thor turned his eyes to where Rocket was looking out the window. "I'm sorry about your family," Rocket finished, knowing Thor knew exactly what he was going through.

"Thank you, Rabb-"

"It's Rocket," he interrupted, anxiously hoping to correct Thor's name for him.

"Rocket," Thor acknowledged as a few Wakandans entered the quarters, bringing hot food and water to the exhausted and mourning Avengers. "Would you like something to eat or drink?" he asked.

"I don't think I have the appetite," Rocket replied.

"I don't think anyone does," Thor said, looking over his shoulder to Steve, Natasha, Bruce, and Rhodey who didn't seem too interested in the food. At this point, full bellies and a good night sleep seemed like something they didn't deserve.

"But, I am a bit thirsty," he admitted.

"Stay here, I'll bring you something," Thor told before getting up and returning to his friends. Rocket glanced over his shoulder, seeing some of the strangers looking at him. It made his fur prickle.. Why the hell did people always have to stare at him?

Thor sat back down next to Natasha, on one of the few couches, but he didn't get comfortable knowing he'd be getting back up soon. A few eyes fell on him and he heard Rhodey asked, "Who is he?" Thor looked at Rhodey, who sat across from him.

With a sigh, Thor quietly answered, "That is Rocket. He was with people, friends who came to the distress signal sent from our ship when Thanos attacked us." Thor temporarily lowered his voice so Rocket couldn't hear the next part. "There used to be a race that illegally experimented on animals. It seems he was a subject... best not mention that around him and don't let that fool you, he's very intelligent." Glancing over his shoulder to look at Rocket once more, he waved a hand at the raccoon, beckoning him to join them. "Rocket," he called softly. Rocket, hesitant, got up and gradually wandered towards them. Steve, Natasha, Bruce, and Rhodey could tell he was nervous, but there was also tremendous grief on his features that mirrored their own. "Rocket, this is Natasha Romanov, Steve Rogers, Rhodey, and Bruce Banner,' Thor introduced for them.

The five of them exchanged mere nods of greeting. After a few moments, Rocket looked at Thor. "Is there a transmitter here somewhere? So I can try contacting Quill. I need to be sure he and the others are safe."

Instead, Natasha answered, "Yeah, we have transmitters."

"Unfortunately, I don't think they can reach anywhere outside of Earth," Bruce imputed.

"Well..." Rocket was almost ready to plant a crude joke, but he realized how damaged everybody was at the moment. "Could I at least check them out? I may be able to alter them to reach the distance I need."

"Will that work?" Steve asked after remaining consistently quiet.

"I'm not sure if that's possible, but feel free to mess around with it," Bruce responded.

Rocket gave a grateful nod to Bruce as Natasha hushly pitched in, "Here, I'll take you there." She got up, to which Thor joined the two as they rounded around the couch. Advancing on the concessions table that was brought out for them behind the couch, Rocket scurried up to stand on the back of the sofa, helping himself to a cup of water. As he did, there was suddenly a ringing that came in Rhodey's direction.

Thor and the humans had peaked in hope as Rhodey stood up, answering the call with relief, "Pepper!" Of course, Rocket didn't know who this was, but the name sparked relief among Steve, Natasha, Bruce, and Thor.

Truth be told, Steve didn't care what fell through with him and Tony, both Tony and Pepper where still part of their family. Hearing she was on the other end of the line was everything at the moment. They tried calling her earlier, but nobody answered, leaving them in the presumption that Pepper was dead as well.  _"Rhodey..."_  Pepper revealed in alleviation. Rhodey laid a hand on his forehead, knowing from the sound of her voice she had been crying.

"Where is she?" Steve urged, lifting to his feet as Rhodey paced slightly.

"Pepper, where are you?" Rhodey asked, trying to remain calm, but the emotion was creeping back to him.

_"At home, in New York,"_  she sniffled.  _"My mom is gone... People just started to vanish."_  Rhodey rubbed at his eyes, there was no way he could comfort her. In no way was this going to turn out okay.  _"Please tell me you know what's going on... please tell me you've heard from Tony,"_  her voice cracked.

Rhodey looked down at the floor, he didn't know how to respond as tears collected in his own eyes. "Pepper..."

She knew what the answer was, but she pleaded in denial,  _"Please, please tell me you've heard from him."_

"...I'm sorry...there's been no word from Tony since..." When the others heard of Tony's name, their heads dipped, except for Thor who had not heard this news. Nobody was willing to say it, but they all knew it was likely he was dead.

_"I told him...I told him to get off the ship,"_  she struggled at getting the words out. Rhodey could tell by her voice, Pepper was trying to stay calm, but hysteria was slowly dawning.  _"We might never see him again."_

Rhodey's heart shattered when she said that. He wiped the water from his eye, trying to honor what he said next, "I know...he was doing what he thought was right." He paused for a moment, trying to control the overwhelming emotion, "Pepper, I'm going to come and get you, okay? Stay at the house, grab only what you need."

With a few breaths, she replied,  _"...okay...please get here as soon as possible."_

"I will," Rhodey promised, ending the call.

"Stark is missing?" Thor chimed in.

"Strange had the time stone. They came for him with a ship and Tony went after them to save Strange..." Bruce trailed off, breaking his eye contact with Thor for a second, swallowing the lump in his throat. "...seems Thanos got the time stone..." he finished in a tone that presented the evidence that both Tony and Strange were gone. There was nothing worse than not knowing what happened, especially having his best friend taken so suddenly moments after they reunited after nearly three years.

Thor remained speechless, wishing he could give them an answer, but trying to find one human in the universe... "There may be a way to track the ship your friend was on," Rocket suddenly said, making everyone's attention shift towards him. "Those giant spikes out in the field should be connected to the mother ship. Through that, there may be a way to detect where each of Thanos' ships are located," the raccoon explained.

"See, I told you he was clever," Thor complimented, yet in no way that lifted their spirits.

"I guess it's worth a shot," Steve supported, not knowing what else to do. Their souls where still branded in grief and it wasn't going to heal anytime soon. "Can you show us how that works?" Rocket gave a nod to the super soldier's question.

"I'm going with Rhodey to get Pepper," Bruce murmured, rising from the chair he was sitting in.

"Are you bringing her here, to Wakanda?" Natasha asked.

"Yeah," Rhodey sighed, before adding, "Alright, we'll see you guys shortly."

"Be careful," Steve said, to which they gave nods of gratitude before going their separate ways.

* * *

**NEW YORK**

The quinjet flew over Tony and Pepper's new mansion that sat on the coast. It was beautiful, with trees covering the property and large glass windows giving gorgeous views of the Atlantic ocean... it used to be until Thanos snapped his fingers. The mansion still stood, but the loss of so many souls left no sun to bare. Hovering over the entrance, the quinjet lowered on the round-a-bout driveway as the door of the jet unfolded. Rhodey and Bruce exited the jet as Pepper came out of the mansion with a backpack. When they met in the middle, her already reddened eyes started filling with tears again as she wrapped her arms around Rhodey with a sob.

"Are you okay?" Rhodey asked her gently.

"Yeah," she mumbled, breaking from Rhodey and giving Bruce a hug.

"Hey," Bruce said tenderly, embracing the hug comfortingly.

"Who else is with you?" Pepper questioned, wiping her eyes as she took a few steps back from Bruce.

"Natasha, Steve, and Thor," Bruce responded sorrowfully, adding, "We're staying in Wakanda. It's much more secured there."

Absorbing the information with some relief, Pepper nodded. "We need to go, do you have everything you need?" Rhodey inquired, to which Pepper nodded a second time. "Okay, let's go," he continued quietly, leading the three of them back to the quinjet, but Pepper suddenly stopped without them knowing. In hardship, she gazed over her shoulder, back at the mansion she and Tony had built together, where they were supposed to be married.

"Pepper.." she heard Bruce say her name as he took her arm. Pepper looked at him in pain and after a second of sharing that emotion, they walked up to join Rhodey in the quinjet.

The trip was eerily silent, just as life had now become. It felt like they were being dragged on concrete, slowly and tortuously as if the twenty minutes in the air had turned to twenty years...but then Pepper's phone vibrated.

Immediately, she stood up as she sat next to Bruce, and frantically answered, knowing the caller ID, "Oh my god, oh my god, Tony!"

Both Bruce and Rhodey shot their attention towards her as she ran a hand over her hair, hearing his voice,  _"Pepper..."_

* * *

**to be continued...**

Thanks for reading! If you liked this chapter, feel free to follow and leave a review.

-Learlorde


	3. Dancing With Fatality

**MAJOR SPOILER WARNING** read at your own risk if you haven't seen Infinity War.

**Author's Notes:** As mentioned, this story is loosely based off the inevitable event of the Avengers reuniting. Not that it'll happen this way, but that stab wound was no joke, so my thoughts are on Tony and I really hope Marvel takes the time for similar character interactions like the ones below. And that they don't have Tony get easily patched up and walk away. But they've got a to cover in Avengers 4, so we may not see a lot of the small moments

Please, enjoy...and maybe bring a tissue.

* * *

**A Painful Reunion**

3 of ?

Dancing With Fatality

* * *

**EARTH**

_"Hey!"_

Hearing the abrupt, frustrated yell and a fiery roar, Tony felt his whole body jolt awake. With raspy breaths, he painfully supported himself on his elbow while realizing he'd blacked out and was laying across a sofa. "We're entering the atmosphere," he heard Nebula hiss, "Do you have any idea where I'm supposed to go?" Dully, Tony tried blinking, but he could feel his eyes wanting to roll back in his head...he knew that wasn't a good sign. His vision soon sorted itself out though, as he realized there was blood under him.

"Shit..." he uttered under his breath hoarsely. Slouching in the seat, Tony summoned his armor onto his hand solely. Pulling the torn clothing aside, Tony aimed the binding agent at the wound that was starting to bleed through. When that was done, he leaned his head back trying to catch his breath. "Friday...," he started, pausing with a wheeze, "send the coordinates of home to this ship." His armor was still badly damaged, but he was sure Friday was still working.

"Sir, that will be allowing access to an unknown server. Do you want to proceed?" The AI asked.

"Yes, proceed," Tony ordered in agitation, as he reached around to his back, using the binding agent on the exit wound. The bleeding edge armor retreated back into his skin as he figured he'd stopped the blood the best he could... he knew it wouldn't be enough, he needed pressure on the wound, but he had no towels or gauze, and he didn't have the energy to search Quill's ship. Even then... Tony was starting to feel scared. He was already cheating death with the binding agent, but without it, he would have bled out in minutes on Titan... There were plenty of times in his past where the shroud of death nearly enclosed Tony...the shrapnel, palladium poisoning, taking the nuke through the portal, he almost drowned...Tony could recall countless other times, but having a sword speared through his gut...that was new and the pain was excruciating. Whenever he looked at the incision, he grimaced, and forced himself to fix his eyes on something else. It was very surreal and it made him cringe seeing the wound ripping from the lower right side of his chest, through his abdomen to his belly button. It was sickening and fatal, and the only reason he wasn't dead was because he was dancing around with it's fatality.

**NEW YORK**

Tony wasn't keeping track of the time, being too occupied on steadying his breathing. He kept swallowing, tasting the fresh blood that started crawling back up his throat while he was blacked out. Most of it was washed out now, but he could he feel it clotting in his throat like a bloody nose did. "Is this where we're supposed to be?" Nebula questioned sharply, almost as if she was annoyed and could care less at Tony being half dead. While continuing to hold the wound, Tony pulled himself onto his feet to flank beside Nebula in the cockpit. Hunching slightly and wincing, he let himself fall into one of the seats with a control panel, knowing he was losing his strength to support himself.

In front of them were screens that showed what laid ahead of them, but they also had field view through the mighty windows. Tony could see the glistening Atlantic ocean under the glorious hues of the setting sun, and fleetly approaching was the shore, where his modernized mansion stood. He couldn't help a shallow grin crossing his lips...at least he was home, on Earth. He'd never been so happy to see this wonderful planet.

"Yeah, land on the balcony," Tony said, to which Nebula brought Quill's ship to a hover over the enormous, stunning balcony that nearly stretched across the whole second floor of the mansion. It was designed for large gatherings, which occurred very often in Tony's life. When the ship was landed, Tony went as quickly as he could through the glass doors into the hallway, shouting, "Pepper!" Reaching the railing, he gazed down to the first floor. He was too injured to go down there. "Pepper!" he bellowed in agony, but there was still no answer, and that's when the panic set in.

With a more leisure pace, Nebula followed him with the sword at her side. She looked quite awestruck at the size and allure of the living quarters, not used to such nice things or even somewhere to call a home. To be honest, she felt quite lost... more than anything she wanted revenge for her sister, she wanted Thanos dead with his head on a platter. A part of Nebula didn't want to waste any more time, she did a service and got the human home, but it wasn't her problem whether he lived, died, or found his friends. However, deep in her heart, she knew she couldn't stop Thanos alone and it surprised her at how long Tony held his own against her father. Even after getting stabbed, he had the will to get home...

Nebula stayed where she was as Tony headed towards the bedroom, calling again, "Pepper!" When he entered the bedroom, he grabbed the door frame in exhaustion. His breaths were rough wheezes that shook his stature. "Friday, call Pepper," Tony demanded, as he careened over to the dresser, where he and Pepper's wedding rings were supposed to be. They were gone.

_"Oh my god, oh my god, Tony!"_  Pepper answered with a emotional cry of relief.

Reprieved, Tony calmed his breathing the best could, responding, "Pepper..." He leaned down, supporting his elbow on the dresser to rest.

_"Oh my god, we thought you were dead,"_  Pepper's voice cracked.

"Yeah, so did I," Tony commented with a rugged breath.

_"What's wrong, are you okay?"_  She asked, as Tony looked towards the bathroom.

"Where are you?" He ignored, making it to the bathroom to search for gauze.

* * *

**THE QUINJET**

"Where am I?" Pepper spoke exasperated, considering Tony was the one who'd gone missing on a space ship. "Where are you?" Rhodey and Bruce where standing beside her, listening intently to her responses to whatever Tony was telling her, both looking relieved yet concerned.

_"Home,"_  Tony said. She could hear him shuffling around for something.

"Home?" She looked at Rhodey and Bruce confused, while replying to Tony, "We were just there twenty minutes ago." Hearing this, Rhodey immediately returned to the cockpit and turned the jet around. "I'm on the quinjet with Bruce and Rhodey. We're coming to get you... Tony, it's going to be okay," Pepper tried to comfort, not knowing what Tony saw out there. She and Bruce swayed to hold onto something as the jet tilted and glided in the opposite direction.

_"Do you have our rings?"_  Tony murmured weakly, out of breath.

"What?" Pepper puzzled. She was prepared to continue, but Tony quickly pushed in.

_"Our rings."_  The desperation and rashness in her fiance's voice leaked through the phone.  _"Do you have them?"_

Looking over at the backpack she brought with her, she said, "Yeah, I do." When the words where out, Tony went silent. "Tony?" Dread and deep worry returned to her. She'd been hearing the faltering pain and strife of Tony's breaths and words. Other questions had been answered first, but she knew he had to be hurt. "Tony...I need you to tell me what happened," she pleaded, leaning against the wall of the quinjet.

_"It..it's a long story, babe,"_  Tony sighed achingly as Bruce started to anxiously pace. He hoped to get some answers from Pepper, but she was not letting go of the phone.

"Are you hurt?" Pepper could feel her throat straining with emotion.

Tony had grown quiet, but with hesitance he couldn't lie,  _"...yeah..."_  Pepper laid a hand over her mouth, trying to contain some level of calmness and strength as he said,  _"...its not promising..."_

Exchanging a scared glance with Bruce, she pressed with a sorrowful breath, "Where are you hurt?" Tony didn't answer, which brought tears back to Pepper's eyes. "Tony...Tony, I need you to tell me where you're hurt."

_"Pepper...I just.."_  Tony suppressed with a broken voice, knowing the whole truth would be like twisting a knife through the heart.  _"I need you to hurry."_  He paused, and Pepper could feel her soul crying for him, hearing his fatigue.  _"Can you stay on the phone with me?"_  he begged.

"Yeah," she reassured soothingly, trying to fight the lump in her throat, "yeah, I'm here."

As she said this, Bruce quickly advanced to the cockpit, where Rhodey was piloting. Urgently, he arrayed, "Friday, get on line with Steve Rogers, tell him it's an emergency."

* * *

**NEW YORK**

It was getting harder to breath... Tony could feel the cold lingering on his skin, despite the warm spring evening. The cold was enough to send a rigid shiver that shook his body with pain as he held layers of gauze to the wound. Luckily, the binding agent was still holding out, but it was slowly starting to dissolve. At this point, he wasn't sure how much blood he'd lost, but it was enough that it took it's toll on him...he could feel his body shutting down, and it frightened him, because he wasn't sure how long he could keep fighting.

Across from him, sitting cross-legged on the floor was Nebula. He was able to persuade her to move Quill's massive ship so the quinjet had somewhere to land. With that done, the sword rested on her knee as they waited and waited... With Friday keeping Pepper on the line, she definitely helped pass the time, but this short twenty minutes sure felt like an eternity...especially with Tony hanging on by a thread. "Tony..." Tony glanced over to the balcony doors that connected to the bedroom, where Pepper, Rhodey, and Bruce came rushing in.

Wincing, Tony used his deteriorating strength and weakly forced himself on his feet as they spotted Nebula. Startled, they halted as Rhodey pulled out a gun, "Whoa! Whoa! Who's she?" Nebula quickly jumped to her feet with the sword in hand, growing tense.

"Rhodey, she's a friendly!" Tony crucially projected, holding up a hand as a signal for Rhodey to lower the weapon. "She's on our side," he added quickly with a pant, placing his hand back on his abdomen, "She's on our side...she helped me get home." Doing his best to look towards Nebula, he said, "...Nebula, drop the sword..." She still remained a bit hostile, but Rhodey trusting Tony, lowered his weapon and Nebula did the same.

Resolving that situation, Tony gazed affectionately at Pepper as she approached him. "Oh my god, oh my god, Tony..." she almost shrieked in fear, abruptly stopping with her hands held out towards him as she saw the abundance of blood on his hoodie. "What can I do?" she asked in shock and panic. Tony didn't have the energy to respond, so he pulled her into a hug. Heavy breaths escaped his lungs as he rested his head on her shoulder, feeling her arms wrapping tightly around him in comfort. Immediately though, Tony could feel his body give in and he was weighing Pepper down as he started to collapse. "Ton- Rhodey, Rhodey grab him!" Pepper gasped as Tony began slipping from her grasp.

Rhodey and Bruce hastily flanked on either side of Tony, grabbing his sides and under his arms. "Tony," Rhodey muttered his friend's name as Pepper still clasped onto Tony's arms as the three of them lowered him to the floor.

"Wait, wait, don't lay him down," Bruce warned, "he's bleeding from the back...set him against the dresser." Together, they moved him a few inches until his back was against the dresser once again. Rhodey and Bruce were knelt on either side of him, while Pepper sat in front of him, by his bent knee.

There were already gauze on the floor, but Bruce speedily went off to the bathroom as Rhodey put a hand on Tony's shoulder. "Tony..." he said solemnly, but Tony's attention span was spiraling and all he did was merely shift his eyes towards him.

"It's good to see you," Tony whispered, hoping Rhodey could understand him through his faltering words.

"Hang in there," Rhodey concurred with unbearable apprehension as Bruce returned with a couple white hand towels. As Bruce lowered beside Tony, Rhodey pulled the bottom of the zip-hoodie up. Tony grimly moaned and looked elsewhere while squinting his eyes shut, knowing their reactions. He could hear their bewildered and horrified gasps at the location and size of the wound.

"Did Thanos do this?" Bruce asked with a gloomy tone as he quickly pressed a towel to Tony's back and abdomen. "...Tony?" Rhodey's hand replaced Bruce's in holding the towel to the entrance wound.

When Tony opened his eyes, he looked forward where he saw a few tears streaming down Pepper's face. "...with..the sword..." He gestured with his head past Pepper to where Nebula stood several feet away, holding the sword. Pepper, Rhodey, and Bruce looked at it direly, seeing the deadly width of the weapon.

"Is it his?" Bruce questioned.

"No...it's mine..." he airily mumbled, "I made it."

Bruce looked at Tony with great sympathy, realizing he was stabbed with his own sword. He exchanged a quick glance with Rhodey and Pepper, sharing an incredible amount of hopelessness and terror, knowing that saving Tony might not be possible. "Tony, what'd you use on this wound?" Bruce continued tenderly, wishing he could examine the wound better, but there was too much blood covering it.

"It's a...this temporary binding agent," Tony trailed off, "...pretty crazy, huh?"

"It's just..." Bruce was still speechless at how Tony could possibly be alive with such a wound. So were Pepper and Rhodey. "Tony, this wound... You shouldn't even be alive," Bruce was blunt, before adding alarmingly, "I don't know how to fix this."

"Friday, where's the nearest hospital?" Pepper asked the AI, before asking Rhodey. "What about the Avengers Facility?" She looked completely broken and on the edge of almost losing it to her emotions. The amount of times she'd almost lost Tony was too much for a lifetime, but seeing him like this, nearly torn up...her serenity was about to shatter.

"We should take him to Wakanda," Bruce chimed seriously, "Even if there are doctors left in the hospitals, they'll be swamped by panicked civilians. And Wakanda may have better medicine and technology to fix a wound like this." Bruce was doing his best not to call the wound fatal with Tony and Pepper sitting beside them, but that's what the wound was.

"Wakanda is too far away for him to travel," Rhodey countered, not wanting to take any risks.

Getting emotional, Bruce confronted Rhodey, "Rhodey, half of the people on the planet have been wiped out." He was scared for Tony's life, "Do you want something that's fast and questionable or something that'll save Tony's life?" They all became silent, except for Tony's breathing...Bruce realized that was harsh to say, but it was true. He didn't want Tony to die too, none of them did, especially knowing how much death there'd been...three billion people, and that was just on Earth. What about the rest of the universe?

"There are no able bodies at the Avengers Facility," Friday noted, making this mourning worse, knowing almost all the people working in the Avengers' Facility were gone.

Shaky breaths started catching in Pepper's throat as she started to panic in dismay. She didn't know what to do... With a hand on her forehead, she looked down at the floor. The piling of emotions was at it's breaking point. Bruce and Rhodey glanced at her, and Bruce moved a few inches, trying to lay a comforting hand on her. "Pepper," he said, knowing and feeling her torment.

"P..Pepper," Tony stuttered, feeling the lump returning to his throat, "...please, don't.."

Distressed, Pepper in agitation, moved Bruce's hand aside, starting, "Just.." With her hands, she motioned for Bruce to get out of the way and he did. They swapped places, where she sat next to her fiance and gently grabbed his hand. "I told you to get off that damn ship," she said in frustration with a crushed voice, and her tears quickly drying. The overlap of emotions were fighting their way through her. She knew she could yell at Tony all she wanted, but it would only worsen the situation. Rhodey and Bruce weren't making up their minds, so she looked at Rhodey and decided, "We're going to Wakanda, like Bruce said." He looked at her with concern, questioning the decision, but she proceeded, "Help me get him up.  _Now_."

Not arguing with her, Rhodey lifted Tony's arm over his shoulder as she did. Tony grimaced as they helped bring him to his feet. Drawing in sharp, tired breaths that soon grew shallow, Tony struggled to walk with them. "Come on, you got it," Rhodey tried encouraging Tony as the three of them headed towards the doors.

Bruce looked at Nebula, "You, are you coming or going? If you're coming, we're going  _now_."

Nebula looked to be contemplating, she was almost compelled to go with them. She'd been watching the four of them from the sidelines and she realized she'd never seen so much love and kindness towards a person before. She was raised to be cold, show no mercy, and to not waste her time on those who were dying. "I.." she began.

"Wait," Bruce was suddenly given a thought, "Do you happen to know Rocket?" All being on common ground, Bruce realized it was possible they knew each other with their same direction to kill Thanos.

"Who," she answered with a growl, "You mean that stupid fox?"

"Raccoon."

"Yeah, I know who he is," she said. Nebula could truly care less about Rocket, but her eyes grew full of grief thinking of Gamora. At this point, Rocket was the only one she knew and the only one she knew to be alive.

"He's with us, in Wakanda," Bruce said, to which Nebula struggled with the decision to do the right thing or to walk away.

"Fine," Nebula finished, quickly handing the sword over to Bruce and following him as he ran to open the door for Rhodey, Pepper, and Tony.

The walk out to the jet was an absolute misery... Tony felt like his heart was going to stopped as the pressure in his chest kept building. "We're almost there," he heard Rhodey say beside him as he fought for each draining breath, but it slipped past his mind. All he could think about was laying down, he needed to lay down.

Darkness started to creep into his vision, and as soon as Rhodey and Pepper managed to drag him onto the quinjet, he stopped. "...put me down..." he rasped hushly, starting to pull his hand off Rhodey's shoulder as he began lowering onto his knee.

"Tony!" Rhodey deplored, trying to keep hold of his descending hand.

"Oh my god, Tony," Pepper fretted, adding sternly as he let go of her shoulder, "don't you dare..."

"No, no, no," Bruce tried not to cry out in denial, setting the sword down and reaching Tony's front to try keeping him on his feet, "don't lay down..don't lay down."

The three of them held onto Tony as he fell onto his knees, "...put me down..." he waned.

"Tony.." Bruce whined, knowing Tony didn't have a lot of time.

Straining, Tony severely compelled, "...on the floor...put me down...not on the table..." Bruce looked at the table in the center of the quinjet Tony was talking about. They all knew hospitals made him uncomfortable.

"...Tony..." Pepper muttered in fear.

"Right now," Tony snapped.

Rhodey, Pepper, and Bruce were hesitant, but they did as he requested and were able to pull him a few feet further into the quinjet's left wing. Supporting himself on his hand with chilling groans of pain, he gingerly fell onto his side and rolled onto his back with their help. "Tony," Pepper whispered over him with exceeding dolor as she took his hand in hers, "...Tony..." Deep, mellowing breaths came from his lungs. "You have to stay with me," she pleaded, but he didn't respond. He stared up at the ceiling of the quinjet, fading in and out consciousness.

* * *

**to be continued...**

Thank you for reading. Feel free to follow and leave a review.

-Learlorde


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